A novice gardener must learn a few basic gardening steps and information before making his first garden. Following the basic steps can guarantee you a wealthy garden and an enjoyable hobby. If you are a newbie, start small. Gardening may be tedious and requires physical energy like digging and moving rocks. Starting big may be too overwhelming and demanding, you can always expand if you are already prepared. First thing to do is to choose and prepare your chosen garden location. Consider the sunlight, soil nutrients, drainage, air circulation and moisture and in finalizing your location. Vegetables and other plants usually require 5 hours of sun exposure a day. Sun is hotter in the afternoon than in the morning. Soil needs to be cultivated and fertilized to ensure that they are healthy and enriched with nutrients.

Choose plants that will live in your area for many years. Keep a minimum number of plants of grow. 3 to 5 types of vegetables and flowers can keep you on track while growing your plants. In transferring plants from a container to your garden, make sure that the depth is still the same – not too deep and not too shallow. Water your plants as soon as you moved them from another location or container. Do not remove the plant from the pot by pulling the leaves or branches. After planting, always monitor you plants on a daily basis to ensure that they are still growing. When planting, plan it accordingly. Remember to place tall plants at the back and small plants in front. Putting mulch on your garden can control weeds and conserve water.

Gardening has been a fulfilling pastime of so many people all throughout the world. Proper gardening can benefit gardener of so many satisfying results like fresh produce, fresh flower scents, fresh air, colorful blooms, pleasing nature and physical exercise. Beginner gardeners have so many options in starting their own garden. Some of these are gardening in plant boxes, garden containers, raised beds or small greenhouse. A wannabe gardener living in an apartment or condo can still start his own gardening even with a limited space.

I recently spoke to one of my neighbors who for the last two years have let his garden area go. I found out that he had hurt his back and was having trouble so much pain bending over that planting, weeding and harvesting was not something he could easily do anymore. As we talked I asked him about another small raised bed in his front yard that he continued to use to raise tomatoes and basil and he told me it was high enough that he could reach it and tend to it as needed.

I went home that night thinking about what could be done to help my neighbor continue to garden without pain and got an idea that I spoke to him about the next day. He was very excited!

His garden was 20 feet x 16 feet and located on a slope. He had used timbers to create a boundary around the space and had small areas portioned off to plant flowers around the garden. We went in and took the timbers out and created 2 raised beds that stand about 3 feet off the ground and run horizontal to the slope and are 16 feet by 4 feet. We were able to reuse almost all of the timber so there was little out of pocket cost and the dirt from the garden was used to fill the raised beds.

I was actually shocked that we were able to do everything with the dirt that was in the garden. The hardest part was pulling up the weeds and grass that had taken over but once that was done it was just a matter of good old fashioned shoveling. We took strawberries that had gone crazy in the old garden space and replanted them in one raised bed to create a strawberry patch. The other has an array of plants including more tomatoes, sweet potatoes and peppers of several varieties.

We used some trellises from the old garden as well so the tomatoes will grow up them and leave room for everything else to grow. I see my neighbor almost everyday out watering and weeding and he is extremely thankful that a solution was reached so he could go back and garden the way he loves to.

When faced with a challenge, use your imagination and see if you too can find a new solution to an old problem.

There are so many reasons to grow your own vegetables and herbs, it is no wonder every home does not have a garden in it. From health to stress relief, you can’t afford NOT to garden.

Gardening is a known stress reliever, because as you methodically weed and tend to your garden, you are letting go of daily stresses that may be holding you back. Plants emit oxygen into the atmosphere, which is another great reason gardening is good for your health. Perhaps the most obvious reason gardening is so healthy is the fact that you will grow an abundance of healthy vegetables and herbs that haven’t been picked before they are ripe to arrive to the grocery store, and haven’t been grown with any harsh chemicals or pesticides. When you grow vegetables, you are more likely to eat them, because they are more delicious and easier to obtain than most vegetables found in your grocery store. Simply put, gardening is one of the best things you can do for your health. Consider gardening and consider living well.

If you have an outdoor garden, you’ve most likely experienced unwanted guests nibbling on your vegetables and plants. Rabbits, squirrels, and even cats can do harm to gardens by eating the plants and leaves. If you need to deter critters in your garden, there are natural ways to do so, without harming your plants or the animals.

Lay citronella candles throughout your garden to deter cats, as they dislike a strong citrus smell. These candles may need to be replaced after a hard rain, or during a strong heat wave, as they will most likely melt. An alternative would be to lay orange and lemon peels throughout your garden. Another natural deterrent is cayenne pepper. Sprinkle cayenne pepper throughout your garden to deter most animals from chewing on your plants. Just be sure to wash your vegetables before consuming them so as not to deter yourself! Finally, place mothballs in old panty house and hang throughout your garden to deter rabbits and squirrels. There is no need to harm critters that find their way into your garden. Simply use these natural deterrents to ward away unwanted visitors.

While you might think that it is easy to plant a tree there are a few things that you need to think about before you start. The first one is about the type of tree you would like to plant; is the tree a native tree to your area? If not, you will want to talk to a gardener at your local nursery to make sure the type of tree you have chosen will do well in the region or area you live in. The next thing is to find out how big the tree will be once it has reached its full growth potential and make sure the place you have chosen will accommodate the future growth. There’s nothing like having to cut down a tree that is now interfering with your house, shed or fence after a few years.

Once you have determined everything is good to go dig a hole that’s about a inch shallower than the distance from the bottom of the root ball to where the trunk starts to flare and about three to four times the width of the root ball. Place a water hose in the bottom of the hole and place the root ball on top of it in the hole. Make sure someone is there to tell you if the tree is straight or not and fill in the hole with good dirt. Turn the water on very low and watch for it to come back out of the hole (it could be a few minutes). Pull the hose out and you are done!

I am a fan of sports. I like all sorts of professional sports, including those performed at the Olympics. In high school I played basketball and threw discus for the track and field team. So when it comes to sports, I’m pretty sure I know what I’m talking about. And the most important part of playing a sport is balance. If fact, balance is one of the most important things we can master to help us with just about everything we do; inside and outside.

If you lack balance than it’s hard to play any sport. It’s also difficult to garden and some find it hard to play with children. Many things affect our balance such as excess weight, weak muscles and injuries and we are pretty much useless without it. Another thing that I find for many is life is not as enjoyable when you struggle with balance. It’s hard to skip and move freely when you don’t feel in control of your body. One of the best things you can do to help improve your balance along with weight control, strength training and being careful is doing yoga. Many people find it really does help them find their center and balance physically, mentally and spiritually.

More and more people are moving in the direction of buying practical gifts for their friends and family. There is nothing more practical than some great gardening gifts for those families and individuals that are starting to or wanting to grow their own food. The great thing is you can get something as simple as hand tools to a larger and more complex garden gifts that might include a raised bed or even a greenhouse.

The most important thing to consider is the skill set of the person you are giving the gift to. You may also want to ask them what they are lacking or what they would like to add in their garden this next spring. There are some things that are organic specific and others that are for general gardening. Whatever you buy for the gardener in your life, make it practical. You can also give a gift to encourage growing their own food as well. One of the best things to use to get stared is a raised bed and you can get organic beds or beds made from recycled milk jugs that both help the environment as well as give someone a way to grow their own food.

I recently had the pleasure of hearing a local chiropractor speak to a group of enthusiastic gardeners about what he sees as their number one problem and how to prevent it from happening.  Like so many other things we do, it seems like our backs are put at risk by our activities in the yard and garden more than any other part of our bodies.  Since the back is supported by our core muscles and those muscles are in the stomach, we tend to forget that those sit ups we hate to do are causing more than our bellies to expand.

So beyond the “eat right and exercise” mantra there are a couple of thing you can do to help prevent a back injury, no matter if you are in top shape or not.  One of the most important things is to always stretch before you start working.  This is more than just touching your toes.  You will need to really stretch and bend and really warm up your body and back for some bending.  Another thing you can do is use knee pads or one of the garden seats you see today to help take the stress off your back and lower body.  I have also heard of a fellow using an exercise ball out in the yard for additional support.  Whatever it takes; you owe it to yourself to protect your back from injury.

There is something about digging in the dirt that brings tremondous joy to many of us.  There is an anticipation of spring at this time of the year that enables you to withstand the rest of the winter months.  The day may be bleak and dreary but you are able to see the sunshine threough the blue days and imagine the blooms and smells of flowers and herbs and the vegetables you plant.

Some of us are lucky enough to live in climates where you can garden almost year round and others have built or bought greenhouses so they can take advantage of some things the average gardener might not be able to.  However, that never deters someone that is in love with the earth and what she brings each and every year.  I hope you are inspired to dream about the sunny days ahead and the bounty your garden will give you this year.  We should all be able to experience the joy of gardening year round whether we can actually garden all year or not.